Bear attacks woman gardening near Vancouver

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - A woman was recovering from bite wounds after she was mauled by a bear while gardening outside her house in a suburb of Vancouver on Wednesday, police said.

The 35-year-old woman was in the front yard of her house in Coquitlam, British Columbia, when the animal attacked her, apparently without provocation, neighbors and police said.

Neighbors who heard the woman’s screams threw rocks at the bear to make it stop its attack. The animal was later shot and killed by a police officer.

Black bears often wander down from the mountains into some of Vancouver’s suburbs in search of food but attacks on humans are extremely rare.

“They are normally shy and back away, so we don’t know what happened in this incident,” Royal Canadian Mounted Police Corporal Tony Farahbakchian said, adding that the attack was considered “an isolated incident.”

The woman was hospitalized in serious condition with bite wounds to her arms and skull, but the injuries were not considered life threatening.